Nathan approached the guards and handed them the silver car he had received for the coach driver, and they let him in without a second look.
'Time to find the adventurers' guild hall'
From the info Nathan received from Nail, every city had an adventurers' guild hall where one could sign up as an adventurer and take on quests. The city was so big, though, that Nathan thought he would never find it. Fortunately, after talking to some of the people around, he managed to find it. It looked exactly like every comic he read, back on Earth, depicted it. It was very innate and gilded on the outside, but the inside looked like a tavern. He walked up to the front desk and started talking to the lady running the counter.
"Hello, I want to apply as an adventurer."
"We can do that for you, sir. I need you to sign your name, and we'll start the process." She handed Nathan a small slip of paper on which he signed his name. He just used the same name he had on Earth, Nathan Relix. The woman took the paper back and brought Nathan to another room where only a table sat and two chairs. He was instructed to sit in one and wait for someone else to walk into the room.
After some time, a tall woman with muscles bulging out of he shirt walked into the room.
"Hello, my name is Arduin. I'm going to do a standard test to see if you qualify to be an adventurer." She then pulls out a black stone slab and places it in the middle of the desk. "All you need to do is rest your hand on the slab. If it reacts to you, congratulations, you are an adventurer."
Nathan steeled himself and confidently put his hand on the slab. The slab began to glow, and as the woman was about to announce the result, it began to float and crack. Arduin stared in shock at what was happening. She started to speak again, but the slab exploded, causing a loud bang that could be heard across the guild hall. Everyone stood up at attention, ready to face any threat. Arduin quickly ran out, instructed everyone to remain calm, and everything was handled.
After Arduin walked back into the room, Nathan smiled sheepishly. 'Man, I hope that wasn't expensive. Wait, was that the talent device?! It has to be expensive. If it exploded, does that mean I have too much talent?!'
"That test was to see if you have mana and the quality of it. What you just exhibited showed me that you have pure mana, a gift held by only a very small percentage of people. Count yourself lucky. Now we will commence the talent test." Arduin was shocked to know someone with pure mana was trying to register at her guild hall. The people with pure mana she could count on one hand, and this guy doesn't even seem to know the importance of it. 'After I see his talent, I rush the application process so that he is fully registered before he even leaves the building!'
Arduin guided Nathan to another room, this one with no furniture other than a pedestal in the middle, a floating white ball above it. "This test is the same as the last one. Place your hand, and the ball will react. I'll explain this test a little more thoroughly. I won't be able to see your exact talent; no one can unless their skill is high enough. If the ball glows green, you have low talent. Don't worry, you will still pass if you have low talent since you already passed the first test. If the ball glows blue, you have average talent. Lastly, if the ball glows red, you have a high amount of talent, and instead of starting at F-rank, you will start at E-rank." Arduin explained everything very clearly to Nathan. Now all he had to do was lay his hand on the orb. 'Everyone with pure mana always glows red. This test really is just a formality since he exploded the slab.'
Nathan excitedly reached out his hand and rested it on the orb. At that moment, there was a noticeable pressure in the room that both Nathan and Arduin could feel. The crystal ball, emitting a low whine, drew Arduin's attention back to it. The ball was slowly turning black. "TAKE YOUR HAND OFF THE CRYSTAL NOW!" Nathan immediately listened to her command and took his hand off. Very quickly, the energy in the room calmed down, and they were able to relax.
"So, what does the black mean?" Nathan was worried. Since Alduin never told him what color no talent meant, he thought the black meant no talent. Nathan's life was crumbling before his eyes.'I'm going to die a miserable death in this world, too, huh!'
As Nathan was drowning in despair, Alduin finally spoke up.
"Nathan, you tell no one what happened in this room tonight, not a soul. My report will read that the crystal glowed blue, indicating you have average talent."
Nathan stared at her in shock. "So what does the black even mean? Is it that bad that I have to keep it a secret?"
"It means you are outside the range of 1-100. You belong to a whole other specialized group of people who are ranged outside of the system. You need to hide this fact away for life. You are too weak to protect yourself now."
Nathan was lost in another world of thought.
'I get I was reincarnated into another world and stuff, and I'm supposed to get op stuff. But could I at least be able to have some peace of mind that I'm not going to get assassinated or experimented on!' Nathan kept cursing his luck in his head while Arduin was thinking something of her own.
'I can't believe this powerful person just fell into her hands. He could make this guild hall's reputation soar! I need to get him registered now!' Arduin walked over to Nathan and calmly said, "Follow me, we will go create your and the adventurer's ID. After it's created, you are welcome to use all of our guild hall's services and start taking quests from the quest board. You are only allowed to take a quest up to one rank above your own. Anything higher than requires you to have a party with an average rank of the quest." Nathan followed her all the way back to the front desk. "And if you need anything else, ask the receptionist with me, and I'll be ready to help you." The receptionist was shocked that the guildmaster was willingly offering her aid to a nobody who had just signed up. Arduin gave her a stern stare, and the girl acted as if she hadn't seen anything.
"Thank you so much for everything, Arduin. I'll let you know if I need anything." With that, Arduin walked off, and the receptionist gave him his shiny copper adventurer's ID. It listed his name and that he had average talent. There was also a big letter F to the right of all that information. 'To make it to the big leagues, you always gotta start small, I guess.'
Nathan, ready with his adventurer's card and a new determination to get stronger, started to march towards the quest board to go job hunting.